One of my readers, Hannah VW., traveled to Italy and used cloth diapers (flats) while she was there. She wrote the following guest post about her experience!

I’m Hannah VW and I’ve been using cloth diapers for our 21-month old son since he was born. We’re expecting another little one in November 2011 and are excited to cloth diaper him or her as well. I keep busy with being a mom and teaching piano and violin lessons.

My family recently had the exciting opportunity of traveling to Italy for a month with my husband’s co-workers and their families. After a few days of traveling and touring in Rome, we settled down in a cute little town called Petritoli near the Adriatic Sea. I used disposables for the flights and the days in Rome, but I packed cloth diapers to use during our 3 weeks in Petritoli, as well as day trips we took from Petritoli. I used one package of 36 disposables over the course of the trip, with a few left over at the end of the trip.

I’ve been cloth diapering my baby girl since she left the hospital 9 months ago. I love using cloth and have never considered anything else. I’ve overcome any problem we’ve run into and it’s been going great! I’ve traveled with my diapers with no problem, but I’ve always had access to laundry facilities. Which leads me to my questions….

We’re taking a family vacation to Mexico in July (yippie!!). I will definitely be taking my diapers with me, but I will not have access to laundry machines. How do you handwash a load of diapers? I have no problem doing it and am kind of excited for the challenge. I feel like if I can do full-time cloth in Mexico for a week then how could anyone resist considering it? My plan so far is to use my regular pockets and A12s with flushable liners in every change to address the solids. But where do I go from there? Can I use my Rockin’ Green that I love so much? How do I make sure they’re going to be clean? (I should note that I don’t want to use disposable inserts). I’m assuming there will be a bathtub (will double-check with the resort before we leave) and line drying will be easy from our balcony.

I’ve read that handwashing flats is very easy to do and that they dry quickly (that would really help as opposed to the thick microfiber/A12 inserts). So should I reconsider my plan and get flats with some covers instead? Can I just lay the flats inside the cover or do I have to fold and use a Snappi to prevent leaks?

Thanks in advance for your advice!!

-Jess T.

Oh wow, how exciting! I think it’s awesome that you will be cloth diapering on your trip! In my opinion, microfiber is the most difficult thing to get clean, and it might be a chore to try to get them clean with handwashing.

Flats are definitely easier to wash and quicker to dry since they unfold, rather than being sewn as thick layers. You can get a dozen cotton flats for as little as $20 (although hemp is much more, and some brands are more expensive than others.) They can also be very useful around the house when you’ve finished diapering with them. Buying flats really wouldn’t cost much more than buying a week’s worth of chemical free disposable diapers/liners (which I know you don’t want to do anyway) plus you can reuse them

They are a little more time consuming to use, since you have to fold them. Just like a prefold, you can snappi them for a more secure fit, or just fold and trifold them, then lay them in a cover. You can generally use AI2 shells as covers, it will just be more of a tight squeeze over bulky diapers. You can even use pocket diaper shells as covers, airing them out between uses to get two or so changes out of each one.

As far as hand washing, I would plan to use the detergent you currently use and wash in the bathtub, replicating your current wash routine.

Submerse the diapers in cold or warm water for a soak, swish them around a bit, then rinse (may not really be necessary if you are using liners.) Then fill the tub with hot water, add your detergent (swish to dissolve completely) and add the diapers. Let them soak, agitating every so often. Then drain the water and rinse. It might be good idea to submerse the diapers an additional time with clean water, to make sure the diapers are rinsed clean.

I know I’ve been a bit all over the place, I think it’s awesome you are doing this, and I hope you have a great time!

So how about the rest of you? Have you hand washed diapers? Did you change your routine? Use different diapers?

Maria wants to live in a world where cloth diapers are the norm and moms can make parenting choices without judgement. When she’s not chasing her 11, 7 and 4 year old kids around, you might find her checking out the latest gadgets, organizing something (again) or exercising in the fresh air. Read More »